SAN ANTONIO – Seventh-year UTSA soccer head coach Derek Pittman officially announced the Roadrunners’ 18-game 2024 regular season slate for their second season as a member of the American Athletic Conference.
The Roadrunners are looking to build upon a 7-7-4 record during UTSA’s first season in the AAC, heading into 2024 and the seventh campaign under Pittman’s guidance.
“Our 2024 slate of games is an exciting one for our players and staff as we continue to challenge ourselves with top opponents from talented leagues in preparation for our second season in the extremely difficult AAC,” Pittman said. “We are looking forward to keeping in-state opponents on our non-conference schedule like Baylor, Corpus-Christi, UIW, Texas State, Stephen F. Austin, ACU and Houston out of the Big 12. Plus, adding great out-of-region teams like Navy and Colorado State will provide a variety of playing styles and highly successful teams to prep us for the American.”
“We learned a lot about ourselves last season in the AAC and we had a very productive spring season with recruiting and improving our play on the field,” Pittman continued.” Our staff and players are excited to play in front of our incredible fans that help make Park West the toughest place to play in the league. We led the AAC in attendance per game and broke overall records last season for our program. We need all of our UTSA Soccer fans to continue coming out this fall to help us beat the top teams in the American Conference for us to achieve our goal of competing for a Championship. We look forward to seeing everyone out at Park West this season.”
Following a home exhibition against Baylor (Aug. 4) and another at Texas A&M - Corpus Christi (Aug. 10), UTSA soccer will open the program’s 19th season by hosting Navy on Thursday, Aug. 15 at the Park West Athletics Complex – where the Roadrunners set the program season attendance record (7,002) last year and have earned a 71.2-percent win rate (16-5-5) over the past three seasons. Facing UTSA for the first time, the Midshipmen were 9-7-3 in 2023 and head into the 32nd season under Carin Gabarra – the program’s only head coach in its history. It will be a home double-feature weekend for the Roadrunners, welcoming cross-town competition from Incarnate Word (UIW) on Sunday, Aug. 18 to round out the weekend. The Cardinals went 6-8-2 last year and these programs will meet in regular season action for only the second time, facing off as exhibition foes both in 2023 and this spring.
The road slate starts early as UTSA travels to San Marcos for the 12th matchup in the Battle of I-35 with Texas State on Thursday, Aug. 22. Then-freshman Sophie Morrin’s 21st-minute game-winner delivered UTSA’s 1-0 victory in the last meeting. The Bobcats went 9-7-4, ending their season in the Sun Belt Conference quarterfinal.
The following week features a rematch from this spring’s exhibition, as the Roadrunners travel to face Houston for the third time in the past four years on Thursday, Aug. 29 – taking on a Big 12 opponent for the fourth consecutive season. The Cougars were 8-8-2 in their first season after moving conferences. UTSA closes the week at home to host the Inaugural meeting with Colorado State on Sunday, Sept. 1. The Rams are coming off a landmark season with a 12-6-4 record, falling just one win short of the Mountain West tournament title.
Notching their third and fourth road games in an 18-day stretch, UTSA travels east to Nacogdoches, Texas for the second year in a row, this time to face former UTSA associate head coach Ben Williams’ Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks (2-14-2 last year) on Thursday, Sept. 5, then moving on to Conway, Ark. for a rematch of last year’s tussle with Central Arkansas (8-7-5 last year) on Sunday, Sept. 8. UTSA defeated SFA 3-0 last season on the road and lit the scoreboard with a 5-1 Park West victory over UCA in 2023’s opener.
UTSA’s 2024 American Athletic Conference opener is locked in for Sept. 12 with UAB (6-7-5 in 2023) traveling to Park West for the lone contest of the week. The Roadrunners and Blazers saw a 1-1 draw when they met last October in Birmingham.
Another AAC matchup follows on Thursday, Sept. 19, with the Roadrunners traveling to Greenville, N.C. for the program’s first matchup with East Carolina. The Pirates were fourth in the AAC and second in the East a year ago, wrapping up a 9-5-5 record following a strong first season under coach Gary Higgins. UTSA closes the week at home with the final non-conference contest, as Abilene Christian (7-9-2 in 2023) heads to San Antonio on Sunday, Sept. 22 – battling on the pitch for the first time since 2017.
Right back into AAC action on Thursday, Sept. 26, as the Roadrunners face three-time defending league champion Memphis at the Billy J. Murphy Complex. The Roadrunners gave the league-leading Tigers one of their toughest tests last season, falling 0-1 on a 43rd-minute Memphis goal. The Tigers finished the season 20-2 and ranked No. 10 in the final coaches poll after pushing all the way to the NCAA Tournament Round of 16. The second outing of the week brings a Sunday, Sept. home tilt against Rice, sparring with the Owls for the 12th consecutive season. UTSA claimed a 2-0 win in Houston last time out via second-half goals from Marlee Fray and Sasjah Dade. The Owls finished 3-13-2 last year, missing the mark after four consecutive 10-win seasons.
Another challenging road swing sends UTSA to Denton to square up with North Texas on Thursday, October 3 – these teams meet for the ninth straight season and just the fourth time at UNT. The Mean Green pulled off a 2-0 win in San Antonio last season and ended their year 8-5-3.
The new month’s first home contest is set for Thursday, Oct. 10, welcoming the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (5-9-5 in 2023) on their first trip to San Antonio, after battling to a scoreless draw last September in Oklahoma. Alternating to the road on the weekend, UTSA heads to AAC East division runner-up Charlotte on Sunday, Oct. 13, for the first meeting as AAC foes. The 49ers were 9-7-4 with their season closed out by AAC top-seeded Memphis.
Temple comes to Park West on Sunday, Oct. 20 after falling to the Roadrunners during last year’s inaugural meeting in Philadelphia to kick off three consecutive single-game weeks down the final stretch of the season. On Thursday, Oct. 24, UTSA travels to defending AAC East division leader South Florida, who finished 10-6-2 a year ago and slipped past the Roadrunners in a 1-0 final in UTSA’s home finale. Closing out the season at Park West, UTSA will host Florida Atlantic (8-7-5 in 2023) in a Halloween showdown on Thursday, Oct. 31 after seeing a scoreless draw last year in Boca Raton.
The American Athletic Conference Championships are to be hosted at the Premier Sports Campus in Lakewood Ranch, Fla., Nov. 4 - 10, with the NCAA Tournament set to kick off Nov. 15 and run through the NCAA College Cup, hosted in early December in Cary, N.C. at WakeMed Soccer Park.
2024 UTSA Soccer Schedule
|
Sun., Aug. 4 |
Baylor (x) |
San Antonio, Texas (Park West) |
|
Sat., Aug. 10 |
at Texas A&M – Corpus Christi (x) |
Corpus Christi, Texas |
|
Thu., Aug. 15 |
Navy |
San Antonio, Texas (Park West) |
|
Sun., Aug. 18 |
Incarnate Word (UIW) |
San Antonio, Texas (Park West) |
|
Thu., Aug. 22 |
at Texas State |
San Marcos, Texas |
|
Thu., Aug. 29 |
at Houston |
Houston, Texas |
|
Sun., Sept. 1 |
Colorado State |
San Antonio, Texas (Park West) |
|
Thu., Sept. 5 |
at Stephen F. Austin |
Nacogdoches, Texas |
|
Sun., Sept. 8 |
at Central Arkansas |
Conway, Ark. |
|
Thu., Sept. 12 |
UAB* |
San Antonio, Texas (Park West) |
|
Thu., Sept. 19 |
at East Carolina* |
Greenville, N.C. |
|
Sun., Sept. 22 |
Abilene Christian |
San Antonio, Texas (Park West) |
|
Thu., Sept. 26 |
at Memphis* |
Memphis, Tenn. |
|
Sun., Sept. 29 |
Rice* |
San Antonio, Texas (Park West) |
|
Thu., Oct. 3 |
at North Texas* |
Denton, Texas |
|
Thu., Oct. 10 |
Tulsa* |
San Antonio, Texas (Park West) |
|
Sun., Oct. 13 |
at Charlotte* |
Charlotte, N.C. |
|
Sun., Oct. 20 |
Temple* |
San Antonio, Texas (Park West) |
|
Thu., Oct. 24 |
at South Florida* |
Tampa, Fla. |
|
Thu., Oct. 31 |
Florida Atlantic* |
San Antonio, Texas (Park West) |
Bold – Home Contest at Park West
(x) – Exhibition
(*) American Athletic Conference Contest
- UTSA -